Affidavit filed by the Chief Wildlife Warden, Assam in the matter of news item titled "the last feral horses in India" appearing in Mongabay, November 5, 2024. The matter relates to the critically endangered status of feral horses in the Dibru-Saikhowa National Park as well as of smuggling of these …
Environment Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka yesterday announced that the Vienna convention has provided a sum of US$ 490 million for the protection of the ozone layer. Minister Ranawaka made this announcement at a felicitation ceremony organized by the parliament to felicitate him on his election as the President of the …
The ministers of the SAARC countries have signed the Delhi Declaration on conclusion of the third South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN-III) on Friday with a call for according national priority to sanitation, said a spokesman of the Ministry of Environment here on Saturday. The conference was held from November …
Land based pollution is increasing at an alarming rate in Sri Lanka and it stands at 90 per cent in comparison to the international level of 40 per cent, Marine Pollution Prevention Authority (MPPA) Chairman M. A. R. Kularatne said. Waste material washed into the sea from the land has …
Good land-use planning that takes both people and elephant needs into account is the only long-term solution to mitigate the human-elephant conflict, Centre for Conservation and Research (CCR) - Sri Lanka, Chairman, Prithiviraj Fernando said. Referring to a report jointly compiled by WWF-Nepal, the Nature Conservation Foundation and CCR, Fernando …
The number of Leptospirosis (rat fever) cases reported from Sri Lanka during the last 10 months is 5,994 while 181 persons have died from the disease, a Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry spokesman said. The disease shows a growth of 172 per cent this year. The most number of deaths has …
Health Ministry statistics said 181 persons died of leptospirosis, commonly known as rat fever, so far this year in Sri Lanka. Another 5,994 people have caught the disease. Sixty three percent of the killed are farmers. Eighty three percent of the victims are male. Almost all of the deceased engaged …
The much delayed Vehicle Emission Testing Certificate programme began yesterday. All registered vehicles in the Western Province will have to get the VET Certificate to obtain the annual revenue license. However, brand new vehicles would be exempt from this regulation for a period of one year from the date of …
According to the recent survey conducted by the Department of Wildlife Conservation, it has been revealed that during the past nine months of 2008, 60 wild elephants have died and 24 human beings have died following attacks by wild elephants in the North Western zone of the wildlife conservation. A …
The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources launched a resource management plan to protect endangered oceanic species in order to ensure future safety and betterment of the fishing community. The Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Department, National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) and the fishermen in the Kalpitiya area …
Petroleum and Petroleum Resources Minister A.H.M. Fowzie says that the government is charging a levy of Rs. 62 per litre of petrol at the moment. Responding to a question raised by the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) parliamentarian Anura Kumara Dissanayake at the parliament this morning the Minister said the …
Pakistan reports more polio cases: Pakistan reported four polio cases just two days after the much-publicized anti-polio campaign concluded on October 16. Three polio victims are from Punjab and one from the North West Frontier Province. These cases take the number of children incapacitated by the disease this year to …
The Public Health Department of the Colombo Municipal Council, which inspected 3,100 premises on Wednesday, found mosquito breeding grounds in 409 of them. 180 were given notice under the mosquito borne diseases ordinance. The Council was faced with an outbreak of chikungunya at the beginning of this year. The symptoms …
The Fourth World Urban Forum organised by the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS) was held in Nanjing, China recently. More than 5,000 foreign delegates from 175 countries including Sri Lanka participated at the Fourth World Urban Forum together with another 3,000 local delegates from the People's Republic of …
The poverty level of Sri Lanka had dropped from 22.7 percent in 2002 to 15.2 percent in 2006-2007 according to a document tabled in Parliament by Construction and Engineering Services Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne this week. There had been a marked drop in the rural poverty level from 24.9 percent …
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is studying a private loan funding proposal for the Mawanana mini-hydro project in Sri Lanka. The Bank has just completed a 14-month due diligence mission on the proposed project, which would have an installed capacity of 5.4MW. Funding totalling US$ 4.2M of private loan was …
A project for small scale dairy farming improvement through Genetic and Feeding Management Improvement (GFMI) to increase milk production and income of dairy farmers has been drawn up, JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) sources said. An agreement will be signed to this effect soon, they said. The project was formulated …
National Diabetes Centre of Sri Lanka (NDC) says that nearly two million Sri Lankans suffer form diabetes. According to the International Diabetes Federation's Diabetes Atlas, 8.4% of Sri Lankans currently live with diabetes. By 2025, 10.7% of the population will have the disease. The organization says wrong food habits, obesity, …
Agriculture Development Minister Maithripala Sirisena told Parliament yesterday that it is a matter for shame that Sri Lanka still imports Kurakkan every year. Minister Sirisena said the country still imports grains such as cowpea, and an import tax had been imposed in the budget to discourage the influx of such …
